Curtain and fixture for the same.



A, C. SWANSON.

CURTAIN AND FIXTURE FOR THE SAME. APPLIQATION FILED AUG-l3. 1917.

1 ,54L,%91 Patented Jan. 22, 1918.-

j i6i. FIG, 58..

Fmfi, Fkafi FIG.J Fig.6. 1 .2

mmassas: INVENTOR:

ALFRED C. SWANSON, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

CURTAIN AND FIXTURE FOR THE SAME.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented d an. 22, 191%.

Application filed August 13, 1917. Serial No. 185,894.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALFRED C. Swanson, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the city of Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Curtains and Fixtures for the Same; and I do hereby declare that the following description of my said invention, taken in connection with the accompanying sheet of drawing, forms a full, clear, and exact specification, which will enable others skilled in the art to which it appcrtains to make and use the same.

My invention relates generally to improvements in curtains and fixtures for the same; and it consists, essentially, in the novel and peculiar combination of parts and details of construction, as hereinafter first fully set forth and described and then pointed out in the claim.

The object of this invention is the production of an efficient and serviceable curtain and fixture for the same, which can be readily manipulated to unroll and roll up the curtain.

In the drawings which form a part of this specification and illustrate the preferred embodiment of my invention, Figure 1 is an elevation of a window or window-screen, to which my invention is applied. Fig. 2 is an edge view of the same. Fig. 3 is a sectional view of a fragment of the curtain, depicting the application of a gromet thereto. Fig. 4 is a plan of the same. Fig. 5 is a plan of one of the turn buttons employed in connection with the curtain. Fig. 6 is a side view, partly in section, of the same. Fig. 7 is an elevation of the catch employed in this device. Fig. 8 is a detail of the cur tain roller, the curtain, and the operating cord, drawn on a slightly increased scale.

A in the drawings designates a window, or a window screen to which the curtain B is applied. This curtain is removably secured at its lower end to the lower rail 12, of the frame, and its other end is secured to a roller C, on which, when the curtain is in its lowermost condition, the entire curtain is wound up. At each of the ends of this roller there is a spool 13, and upon these spools there is wound an operating cord 14, the ends of which are suitably fastened to the spools, said operating cord being then trained upwardly over pulleys 15, then approximately horizontally over pulleys 16,

and then downwardly over a pulley 17, which latter pulley is supplied with a loop 18. To this loop there is tied a pull-cord 19, which pull cord passes behind the curtain and below the same over a snatch block 20, This snatch block has a pulley 21, and a pivoted dog 22, by which the pull cord is securely held in any position desired.

The lower end of the curtain B is removably attached to the lower rail 12 by means of turn buttons 23, there being in the curtain gromets 24, having an. oblong aperture 26, for the passage of the flattened head 25 of the turn button, which head, when passed through the oblong aperture 26, and then turned a fourth of a revolution, will securely hold the curtain to the lower rail.

In the longitudinal margins of the curtain there are spacedapart gromets 28, and to the vertical rails of the frame A, indicated by the reference number 29, there are fastened equally-spaced turn buttons 30, whereby, when the curtain is being unrollcd the same may be secured to said vertical rails, thus preventing the curtain from flapping when infiuenced by an air current, the gromets and the turn buckles for the marginal edges of the curtain being the same in construction as those used at the bottom of the curtain.

The operation of this curtain may be read ily understood. Pulling downwardly the pull cord 19 pulls the operating cords at the sides of the frame A in an upward direction and thereby causes the curtain to unroll from the roller C. Slackening on the pull rod causes the roller C to move downwardly, by gravity, and the curtain to wind upon the roller, while the operating cord unwinds from the spools. Attention is now directed to the peculiar action of this operating cord 1% in connection with the roller C and the curtain B. By reference to Fig. 8 it will be noted that the operating cord is mounted on the spool 13 in the opposite direction in which the curtain winds upon the roller, so that at first sight it would appear that by the pulling of the operating cord in an upward direction, the curtain would be caused to wind upon the roller, and the operating cord to unwind from the spool. This, however, is not the case, paradoxical as it would seem to be, for the reason that the curtain, being fastened at its lower end, the upward pull of the operating cord has the effect of pulling the roller upwardly and the unwinding therefrom of the curtain, and this upward movement of the roller and its rotating, causes the operating cord to be wound upon the spool, which gives so much tension to the curtain that it will always be very taut.

Attention is also directed to the pulley 17 over which the operating cord passes. This pulley has the peculiar function of always keeping the roller C perfectly horizontal, because, should the roller for any reason, be lower at one end than at the other, and the curtain be loose at that side, there would be more of the operating cord on the lower side than at the upper. The upward pulling of the operating cord will first straighten the curtain and causing a slight rotation of the pulley 17 by the movement of the operating cord to equalize itself.

This is an essential feature of my invention and differentiates it from other devices with which I am acquainted.

The simplicity of this device is apparent. The fixtures are readily applied to the frame and the manipulation of the curtain easily learned, no skill being required to operate the same.

The advantages of a curtain that rolls from the bottom upwardly are that it is possible to shut off the lower part of a room from being looked into from the outside, without affecting a good current of air and ventilation of the room. It is especially well adapted for sun-parlors, front porches and rear sleeping porches, ofiices, etc.

Attention is now directed to the fact that the mechanism and means for operating the curtain are effective only when the lower end of the curtain is held in a fixed position, so that, when it is attached with its lower margin to the bottom rail of the window, the lower part of the window cannot be left j uncovered and the upper part thereof covered by the curtain. To enable the lower portion of a'window being uncovered and the upper part covered, the lower margin of the curtain is raised the desired height, and the side margins thereof secured to the proper turn buckles or buttons at the sides of the window, remote from those at the lower rail of the window, after which the curtain can be manipulated in precisely the same manner as heretofore described, to cover the upper portion, or a part of the upper portion of the window, as may be desired. It will thus be noticedthat the turn of construction disclosed may be changed,

and parts omitted without departing from the scope of my invention as defined in the subjoined claim.

Having thus fully described my invention, I claim as new, anddesire to secure to myself by Letters Patent of the United States- A curtain and fixture for the same, com-' prising, a frame, said frame including bottom, top, and side rails, a curtain, a roller, said curtain being attached at its lower end to said bottom rail, and its other end to said roller, a'spool at each end of said roller, a pulley at each end of said top rail,

other pulleys adjacent the center of said top rail, an equalizing roller having a downwardly extending loop, an operating cord, said operating cord having its ends ,fastened to said spools, said operating cord being wound around said spools in such a manner that when said operating cord is caused to pull the curtain roller upwardly to cause the curtain to unwind therefrom, said operating cord will be wound upon said spools, said operating cord being trained over said pulleys, a pull cord tied at one end tosald loop, said pull cord passing from said loop behind said curtain and projecting from the lower end thereof, a snatch pulley below the lower end of said curtain to retain said pull cord in adjusted position, gromets at the bottom and the side margins of said curtain, and turn buttons at the bottom and side rails of said frame whereby the lower end of said curtain may be secured to the turn buttons at the bottom rail, or to turn buttons at the sides of said frame remote from said bottom rail.

as my invention, I have hereunto set my hand.

' ALFRED C. SVVANSON.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner o flatents, Washington, D. C. 

